there you see it, a winter storm headed right toward the d.c. region this morning. >> the system has brought in cold, windy weather, and the metro region could soon see rain, sleet and snow. the triple threat there. >> yeah. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 today. i'm richard jordan. >> and i'm angie goff. the winter weather coming in just as forecasted by our meteorologists. >> they have been tracking it all week. let's go toe meteorologist chuc

bell, who has been triple checking the monitors. hey, chuck. >> it's pretty much what he we thought we would get. still waiting for mother nature to throw us a last minute curveball but it will start as snow this morning, then mix in with sleet, and rain in the afternoon and then freezing rain overnight. winter weather advisories from 95 eastbound and warnings to the west of there. the dividing line between light problems and moderate problems between all of this. temperatures generally at or below freezing pretty much everywhere. mid 20s in northern maryland. storm team 4 radar shows the leading edge of the snowflakes now, blue ridge. haven't heard reports of it covering the ground yet. it should be covering it shortly. there's the warm air down to our

south. that's the reason southern maryland will be mostly a rain event for you, but with sleet mixing in. temperatures in the 20s and 30s. out the door for this morning. snow arriving during the morning hours. i'll get more into the details of that and give you my snow forecast as well in a few minutes. >> road crews are getting ready for this winter storm in virginia. vdot says they have dozens of weather sensors and cameras activated to help crews quickly identify trouble spots. they have 800 trucks. >> and in maryland, crews pretreated roads like 270, the beltway, route 29 as well. they've been doing this almost 24 hours. >> in the district, crews are getting ready to deploy more than 200 plows as soon as the storm hits. road crews are getting ready to put in overtime and word of snow and ice had people rushing to stores. >> last-minute surprise, transportation leaders have a warning. darcy spencer has more.

>> reporter: transportation officials encouraging people to get their preps done and stay home during the storm. >> try to stay off the roads sunday. we really need to be able to treat those roads and keep them passable for emergencies and all. we ask people to please stay off the road on sunday. >> reporter: newly opened walmart store in northwest d.c., people were stocking up. not only getting ready for the storm, but getting ready for christmas. >> it's always excellent to be prepared for anything. plus i like to cook and my family has to eat. >> we're actually getting ready for a big christmas party right now. haven't even considered the snow. so, all this shopping may serve double duty for the christmas party and for the big snow storm. >> reporter: in alexandria, the old town hardware store was very busy, people buying shovels and ice melt as well as holiday light. >> shovels and salt and anything that's going to help them clear their sidewalks, if we get the icy weather that they're proposing we get. >> reporter: darcy spencer, news

4. companies in our area are also preparing for the storm. dom inion virginia says their crews are prepared. 866-366-4357 if the power does go out. you can also report an outage or downed power lines for pepco 877-377-3622. restoring power knocked out by the storm that's headed our way, more than 200,000 outages are reported in texas, oklahoma, arkansas, indiana, and missouri. utility trucks from houston are headed to the dallas area to help get the lights on there. utility companies say it will take about a week to repair the damage. get your weather alerts on your smart phone. download the storm team 4 weather app in the app store or google play. search nbcwashington weather.

aspen hill, roads are closed as police continue to investigate a fatal crash at aspen hill and iris streets in rockville around 1:00 this morning. only one car was involved. police are not sure exactly what caused this crash. also in maryland, two people are dead and six others are in the hospital this morning after a deadly car accident. prince george's county police confirm the deadly accident at central avenue and it happened around 11:00. several of the victims were trapped and actually needed to be cut free from the vehicle when police arrived. and we have learned that two of the victims were children. both were flown to a nearby trauma center. officers are still trying to piece together what happened. >> third person involved in a shootout with police in prince george's county. breaking news last night at 11:00. police officer and gunmen were both injured.

police say they responded to a robbery in silver hill road in district heights. officers followed the suspect's road to parkland court. that's where the gunfire was exchanged with that suspect. the officer was hit. but his bulletproof vest protected him. no word on the condition of the gunman. a second man was questioned. they're now looking for a third. right now, people in south africa are remembering their former president, nelson mandela. these are live pictures from johannesburg this morning as people mark his death with a national day of prayer and reflection. places of worship around the country are celebrating his life. the 94-year-old died thursday and will be buried one week from today. this morning, we now know that four of the five living u.s. presidents will head to south africa this week. former president jimmy carter says he will head to johannesburg this week. it comes after presidents barack obama, bill clinton and george

w. bush have announced they will pay their respects. george h.w. bush is unable to go because of health issues. watch for live reports throughout the week as people around the world say good-bye to nelson mandela. this morning, we're keeping close watch on that winter storm as it moves in. how it is forcing agencies like metro to change up their plan this is weekend. another chance of snow in the seven-day forecast. we're coming back in a moment. [ male announcer ] you know what's so awesome about the internet?

it gets more and more entertaining every day. and once you've got verizon fios, that's when you get it. america's fastest, most reliable internet takes your entertainment to ridiculous levels. i was streaming videos, movies, music. once i realized how fast it was, that's when i got it. [ male announcer ] and now you can get the ultimate holiday gift! get the fios triple play for just $79.99 a month online guaranteed for the first year. plus get a $300 holiday bonus with a 2-year agreement. technology that makes life more entertaining. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities

that's powerful. at 800.974.6006 tty/v. the winter storm is forcing metro to cancel maintenance on the track today. the maneuver allows crews to prepare and respond for winter weather. they'll also get ready for

tomorrow's commute. you can sign up for free alerts onity website wmata.com. >> everyone is getting ready. we're getting prepared. >> lot of stuff going on. monday morning commute. bullseye on everybody's mind. but redskins and are playing home today. you need to dress to be warm and dry. snow this morning mixes in and eventually changes over to what looks like, anyway, an extended period of sleet and/or some freezing rain, especially right in the i-95 corridor and points to the north and west of there. this is going to be a very dicey forecast, everybody. you just need to know i-95 is basically the dividing line between what could be low impact and moderate impacts from this kind of storm. 32 at national airport. wind out of the north at 14 miles per hour. it is a windy and cold start this morning. mid to upper 20s in northern

maryland. you folks, frederick county, washington county, maryland, panhandle of west virginia, you actually have the best chance of seeing several inches of accumulating snow before we start to transition over to the sleet and the freezing rain. should be snow for most everybody at the beginning, with temperatures below freezing all the way up through the atmosphere much there's warm air coming in aloft. that will gradually change things over to a sleet and freezing rain mix by later on this morning into this afternoon. your out and about planner today, snow mixing in with sleet and freezing rain by 1:00 this afternoon. mostly sleet and freezing rain by free and then rain, sleet and freezing rain by 5:00, 6:00. overnight tonight with temperatures flirting around the freezing mark, we could have extended periods of freezing rain going into the monday morning commute. storm team 4 radar for now, not a whole lot going on in the metro.

strasburg, tom's brook, you're starting to get the light snow already. you can see a little bit of patch of rain mixing in with some sleet pellets or freezing rain south of fredericksburg heading into parts of southern maryland. i- 5 will basically be the dividing line. how much snow? i'll show you the three different levmodels we look at. model number two, a little more aggressive. almost two inches in town and about four inches in northern maryland and the third option, half an inch of town. this is what i think i like the most. half an inch in and around town and two or four inches or more around parts of maryland. slushy, maybe an inch in and around town, one to two inches out toward fairfax. once you get to northern montgomery county toward the blue ridge, two to four inches of snow. it will be starting as snow today. the real crux of this forecast

depends on how long and how much we could get freezing rain and sleet into the area by later on this afternoon. just keep in mind, everybody, it will be a dicey day today. if you don't have to travel, go ahead and stay inside today. make a nice pot of soup and enjoy. same for tomorrow. that's a lot easier said than done on a monday than a tuesday. monday should change over to all rain after the monday morning commute for whatever good that does us. another hit of snow possible at the end of this now on tuesday. could be enough to coat the ground once again. not looking for a lot of plowable snow. you folks in northern maryland, this will need to be watched. freezing rain as always, problematic. it's hard to forecast and hard to deal with. >> makes the roads very treacherous. >> very dangerous. stay off of them if you can. >> thanks, chuck. >> next up is reporter's notebook, a look at stories affecting our community. >> we're back in 15 minutes with more of today's top stories. >> good morning. welcome to reporter's notebook.

i'm pat lawson muse. we begin with politics. the race is on in the district. d.c. mayor vincent gray finally ended all the spence on monday. almost a month to the day from the january 2nd deadline to file petitions for the april primary. news 4's tom sherwood broke the news that gray was seeking a second term and formally signing his election papers. he is still under investigation, something sherwood equated to a wet mattress hanging over his campaign. how tough would it be for the mayor to run with a wet mattress hanging over his head? >> it won't be easy, there's no question about that. the reality is that many of the people who are convinced that the 2010 campaign was corrupt have already decided that they're not going to be able to support mayor gray. so to my way of thinking, he is actually benefiting from all of these other high-profile candidates getting into the race. the more widely the vote is

divided, the better it is for him. he may do what harry thomas used to do when he was running and win by 30% of the vote because all the anti incumbent vote has been divide among so many candidates. >> bowser saying now that he's running he will have to answer questions, tommy wells saying he doesn't deserve a second chance because of the shadow of the 2010 campaign. >> a lot of that, i think, is campaign talk on these candidates running against mayor gray. but i think a lot -- i heard tommy wells the other day. he's puffing up the fact that the city has corruption. well, you know, they do have some problems, like any place else. but he is using this as campaign talk. bowser, again, using it as campaign talk. the thing that gray has going for him is his base. he still has a base in this town, a very strong base.

and in addition to that, he pulled on another base and that is development. >> dave if, the mayor is not charged with anything, do you think all these other candidates will stay in the race? >> that's a good question. you have to wonder, what was their calculation in getting in? either gray would be wounded by some charge or that he wouldn't be able to run and this is a shot for me. but they're in now. i mean, at this point in time, based on my reporting, i'm not getting a sense that anybody wants to drop out. but it's going to be -- but it's going to be a hot race. let the games begin. but the games have changed. it's going to get hot for mayor gray out there. they're going to focus on his -- these suppositions or suspicions of what's going on and they're going to hit him often and as hard as they can. >> we saw him take a very combative approach in dealing with the media this past week. >> i have is to tell you -- >> is that part of his strategy,

do you think, or do you think he was really on the ropes? >> it don't know if it's part o his strategy. it makes sense to me. he can't really say this but at some point he or people around him have to say, prosecutors have been investigating this for years now. we're talking about something that happened in 2010. at what point do we go from investigation to either a decision to prosecute or not? it's a fair question to raise. if that's the source of his combative nature, i get it. >> four council members are running and david cattania is exploring running as an independent. >> he's going to run. >> who is running the city as all these council members are running for mayor? >> that's a good question. talk about running the city, pat. look at mayor gray. all during the time, this whole thing about the hype of the investigation is not new. this is -- he's lived with this for the last, what, three years. so, therefore, if he uses the same strategy that he has been

using all the time, i'm running the city. >> it all depends on if and when something comes out of the investigation. if there's a bombshell, you know -- and i'm not casting any aspersions. you're innocent until proven guilty. if some bombshell comes out, that's got to impact on his campaign. >> i have to say something real quick about the council. there's a real productivity question here. all these people on council running for mayor, it seems to me they're going to conduct themselves in a way that's going to advance their campaigns and not necessarily what's best for the city and that is a problem. >> the city has gotten its first two new walmart stores just in time for the holidays, with long lines and a great deal of fanfare. locations on georgia and missouri avenues and at first and h streets northwest. i wasn't surprised to see the lines. but this is the first of maybe many walmarts in the city. >> well, i was there yesterday -- not yesterday, but last week when they opened.

and the fact is that, yes, they had long lines. those lines kind of shaved off around in the afternoon, because when i was there, it was 3:00 in the afternoon and it wasn't that bad. but, you know, pat, this has been on my mind to say about the walmart situation. it is unfair that they won't, you know, go along with minimum wage increase. but on the other hand, i looked at the people in that store. most of the people in the store were people of -- you might say poor people or people that are trying to struggle and make it. the price at walmart right now look good. how long it will last, i don't know. >> well, walmart has a lot of hustle and bustle to georgia avenue where they want to see development and the charge by critics is that, yeah, walmart will thrive. a lot of these other businesses that can't compete will go the way businesses, it's charged, will often go at walmart. they go down.

wages go down because they can't compete with walmart. >> we don't need six walmarts in the city. this entire thing is a mess. two years from now there will be a whole bunch of vacant storefronts on georgia avenue. >> that happened in columbia heights. i have to tag what he's saying. they booked the target in columbia heights, a lot of small business people lost out. >> you mentioned the minimum wage. it's now going up in montgomery, d.c. and in prince george's county. michael? >> well, i'm happy that the minimum wage is going up and we're talking about the montgomery county bill that just passed. often the conversation is if you raise salaries, then there's taes going to cost people jobs. that is a total of $17,472 a year. in this metropolitan area, that's not a lot of money, okay? by 2017 they want to raise it.

that is $23,923 a year for somebody who works every single week of the year with no vacation. listen, we have to do something about wages. these minimum wage increases are a step in the right direction but they do not keep up with the reality that people have, trying to eke out a living. >> what about the businesses that are trying to make it in this economy, dave is this. >> there continues to be the argument, though, that if you do raise the minimum wage, not owned directly by mcdonalds, run by other people and would have to maybe lay off people, the argument goes or do automation. a lot of people are making that argument, even people that you would think would be on the other side of the aisle. that's obviously, i'm told by the people i talk to, something you have to think about. on the other hand, in this area, if the district and montgomery county are raising a modest

increase in minimum wage, that would be a good thing, i'm told. you couldn't go from montgomery to get a better deal and d.c., back and forth. the question is, what is verge yain going to do? >> across the board, i've said it all the time. somehow both sides, those who don't want to raise minimum wage and those who do will have to come to some kind of compromise. the reason i'm saying that, last week we had the biggest road test of people walking offer the job. >> so we're doing food drives for walmart workers, okay? we have to do something about minimum wage. >> got to take a break. we'll be right back.

black friday gun deals. breaking its gun sales record following sales on black friday. more than 3 thoushs 900 gun

transactions took place on black friday. richmond times dispatch report that is broke previous records of 3,800 transactions on the same day just a year ago. why were so many people out buying guns on black friday, dave? >> people i talked to -- i actually spent last friday, black friday, at a gun shop. i did not buy any weapons, but was with other people shopping. and it was bustling. what people tell you is they're really afraid that president obama, this administration is out to outlaw guns, that the background checks are just a first step. any passage of law is a first step and he's going to take away our weapons, violate the constitution. that continues to be the impetus for the sales, apparently. that is a real spark. >> i basically think that's what it is, the fact that people have a great fear in their mind that they will not be able to buy these guns later on. >> i want to pick up on the word fear. why do people have this fear? people have been primed f r years to believe that government is going to come get our gun,

right? and now there's this scary black president who is also leading the government. they're going to come get our guns. two years in virginia, you see the sale of nearly 1 million guns in one state in a two-year period. to me that's all about the priming that people receive certain messages and they're afraid -- they accept these messages even though, to my way of saying it, there's really no evidence to support it. silver line delay, metro airport authority is once again pushing back the expected completion date for construction of the new silver line through tyson's corner. we're waiting for this to open. the original delay scheduled opening was to be at the end of november. it's been delayed to the end of march because of a computer glitch? >> yeah. that was facing of the cars is taken care of, i believe. they have to have at least a 90-day review to see if they can't straighten it out, which means another delay, which means

people won't get in until maybe late spring. >> we've had so many accidents on rails and there's a lot of attention given to rail systems, whether national or local. so, if it's a computer glitch, let them get it straight. because we don't want to go through the problems. >> not only let them get it fixed, i don't think people will be concerned there was a 90-day, four-month delay. get it fixed. >> in the short term, businesses depend on more people getting good transportation to get to where they're going to go. the people who would use metro and maybe spend more money and fares on it, they won't be using it for a while because they can't get where they want to g in the short term, it will -- -- and the cost of continuing construction. >> terry mcauliffe reaching out to both the republicans and

democrats? >> strikes me as a thing that many new executives do. it's designed, in part, for show, to let the voters and citizens know that this person is thinking in bipartisan terms. and because there's so many former governors in verge yain, you can sort of pick and choose who you want to talk with. optically, it makes sense. >> you only get four years in the governor shot. there's a lot of people, one shot and that's it. they're still around. it depends on what they talk about. if there's a really serious agenda about what worked for you and a real serious attempt at bipartisan legislating and people think that might lead to something. but if it's just, as you say, for show, proforma, then -- >> i think it's more than just for show. by showing this bipartisanship outreach, i think he's trying to

win votes in the general assembly, too. >> finally, how important do you think it is that hyattsville became the second city in the state of maryland to pass legislation, banning discrimination against people who are transgender? >> discrimination is discrimination. you know, we play with this game all the time. at one time, it was -- well, we can go back in history. we know what discrimination was. but now discrimination is to a point where it's open door. it's about civil rights. >> dave? >> this is the mood certainly in maryland and parts of the you state to be more welcoming, more open, gay marriage, the revolution and thinking on gay people and people who have other issues in that regard -- not issues, but transgenders, people like that. just another move in the direction. hyattsville today could be a lot of other cities tomorrow. >> i tend to agree. i don't think there's -- it's notable that this step has been

taken. but unless it leads to a larger, more broader sort of conversation about discrimination generally, it may just be something localized. this is the kind of thing i expect out of tacoma park. surprised that hyatts vilville took -- >> i like people that call it park. >> discrimination is discrimination. >> dave mcconnell, jerry. thank you for being with us. i'm pat lawson muse. that's it for reporter's notebook. news 4 today continues. we're keeping close watch on a winter storm. a live look over the potomac river right now at 6:30, courtesy of our camera at national harbor. even though it's along the water, it's one of our warmer spots right now.

good morning, everyone. welcome to news 4 today. i'm angie goff. >> and i'm richard jordan. who gets rain and who gets snow depends on a fine line of temperatures right now. >> we've seen it change throughout the morning. chuck, that changeover make this is forecast tricky. >> you bet, it does. very dicey, indeed. it will be almost all rain for you. meanwhile, our friends and neighbors in frederick county, virginia, toward winchester, it will be mostly snow for you at the front and then a chance for ugly accumulating freezing rain this afternoon. basically, i-95 is your dividing line. if you live east or south of i-95 in southern maryland, a fairly low impact for you. north and west, northern maryland, panhandle of west virginia, shenandoah valley, this could, indeed, set the stage for a significant amount of icing. temperatures are at or below freezing north and west 95, windchills in the cold 20s first thing this morning.

snow flakes reaching the ground outside of winchester, northern parts of faulkner county, opal. be ready for snow to be moving in this morning and then a mix to change over to freezing rain by later on this afternoon. if you're headed out to the redskins game, whatever you're doing around town this afternoon, tricky travel. maybe not impassable, but tricky, indeed. snow, sleet and ice through the afternoon. if you don't have to go outside today, plan on staying inside. i'll give you my forecast in a couple of minutes. >> mess of snow and ice this morning. crews are busy getting the power back on for people left in the dark. nbc's dan sheneman picks up our team coverage. >> reporter: no let-up for millions of americans saturday as heavy snow and freezing rain continue to lash much of the central united states. in texas, temperatures hovered below freezing, creating an icy

nightmare on the roads. >> i've been driving for 37 years, have only seen it worse than this once in my life. >> reporter: crews in arkansas are working overtime to restore power to the customers spending another frigid night in the dark. storms push eastward, working dramatic temperature drops in its wake. in fargo, football fans break windchills of 34 below and in memphis, the cold may have canceled the marathon to raise money for st. jude's children's hospital but didn't stop some from racing on their own. >> we don't want the weather to deter our passion for running and certainly our passion for st. jude. >> rorter: under way in verge yain and much of the east coast, california is dealing with a second storm system that threatens another wintry blitz in the coming week. dan scheneman, nbc news. the show must go on for the 36th annual kennedy center honors. we checked out the kennedy

center this morning, checked in with them. they tell us that they expect everything to go on as scheduled. president obama will host the honorees during a reception at the white house before the gala begins. among those being honored tonight, actress shirley mc mcclaine, musicians billy joel. someone was killed in a shooting overnight. officers were at the scene of 9th and shaeridan for more than six hours. they immediately found a man lying on the ground. the identity of the man has not been released, nor any leads on the gunman. fiery and deadly crash. police say two cars collided in the northbound hov lanes near exit 170 at the franconia springfield parkway before 9:00 last night. the impact caused one car to burst into flames. emergency crews had to lo close that stretch of 95 as they

cleared the scene. group of neighbors in northwest will be spending extra cash this holiday season, making car repairs. the windows were smashed in early saturday morning. several items were stole fren some of the cars. news 4's derrick ward tells us why neighbors were so surprised. >> reporter: neighbors are talking like neighbors do. typical saturday city scene. these folks have more in common than a zip code. they're the victims of the same person or persons who went on a blitz overnight on parked car. >> two or three other spots with glass broken, that's when i realized it's got to be my car, too. >> reporter: here along this stretch of new york avenue, a gateway to the city and either side tipifies what leaders want in d.c., development, commercial, residential, thriving. dozens of cars were hit and some had things stolen. >> looks like they took my girlfriend's prescription glasses, some sunglasses of

mine, but nothing else too valuable was in the car. >> reporter: some items were left untouched. one victim didn't even realize her car had been targeted. >> then i got in my car and noticed it was really cold and looked back and realized my passenger rear window had been smashed. >> reporter: it's not just this is a busy stretch of new york avenue but what's across the intersection over there, that's a police station. >> pretty surprising. nobody has ever seen anything like that happen over in this area. >> reporter: some in the area say it's not the first time parked cars have been hit. regardless, it couldn't come at a worse time. >> money does hurt. not only the inconvenience of having to delay all of my plans to buy a christmas tree today in order to get my window fixed. >> reporter: what's more, you don't want an open car window when snow and sleet are in the forecast. >> this is what happens when you live in the city, i guess. >> reporter: derrick ward, news 4. >> it's a shame. >> yeah. time now is 6:36.

this is not your average winter weather moving in right w. >> ice is the problem with this one. that could mean dangerous driving. what road crews are preparing for right now

a live look at reagan national airport. everything is running on time there. officials are keeping a close eye on the approaching storm. we checked with dulles asand thoroughgood marshall. be sure to check with your airline before heading to the airport this morning. d.c. is asking property owners to help out and treat their sidewalks. that means pet owners will have to be on the lookout for chemicals, the district suggesting to use something that

is safe for pets when you treat the sidewalks, pavement, ground. thinks like nonclumping kitty litter, deicer, rock salt. d.c. team is testing pet safe deicer on bridge with his pedestrians and sidewalks. officials want residents to know falling leaves will probably be cluttering parks and streets. the department of public works leaf blowing crew is an active part of the snow team. leaf collection will be suspended until the storm passes through. time right now is 6:41. at this early hour, tons of crews are out to keep roads clear as the system moves through. >> steve shannon from vdot. you're in loudoun county, right? >> that's correct. it's hard to see. it's kind of cloudy a little bit. we have in loudoun county, i've got over -- i guess about 240

pieces of equipment that we are in the process of mobilizing and prestaging. we did our anti-icing treatment yesterday. we feel that we're in good shape and ready to fight this storm. >> steve, i live in northern virginia, and making my way in, i did see the snow plows, everybody on standby on the shoulder of the roads. how do you decide what roads, what bridges, what gets treated first? >> depending on the level of mobilization, the interstate is the highest priority of any of our roads. high volume roads like route 28, route 7 and those main arteries. we have trucks out. they are the priority. but we also have vehicles out in most of the subdivisions as well. we do treat the main roads first. that's our top priority. >> and, steve, what's your message to drivers this morning as your road crews are out there, too, drivers heading out?

what should they do? >> stay home if at all possible. i realize today with church activities, other activities, shopping, i realize people tend to want to get out and move around, but we ask that you please stay in, if at all possible, and give our guys and our hired equipment time to treat the roads. we're going to have a lot of trucks out. we're going to have over 1,200 trucks and that number will probably go up as the storm develops. so if at all possible, please stay home and let us do our job. >> steve shannon, thank you so much. steve shannon with vdot, giving us an update on their plan to treat the roads in virginia. you can always go to nbcwashington.com. >> nbc 4 will be with you. you can get an early start to work tomorrow and we will, too.

we'll be here to bring you the latest on closings and delays and our web team will be updating the information. news 4 today starts early tomorrow at 4:00 am. in other news, all over south africa this morning, people are celebrating the life of former president nelson mandela. today is a national day of prayer and reflection, part of a ten-day morning period. it comes as people around the world fled the african nation to remember former anti-apartheid leader nelson mandela. richard engel has more. >> reporter: no one mourns like south africans. in sowetu, where mandela once lived, they celebrate the man who ended apartheid. the mandela family also made its first public statement. >> as a family, we learned from him to appreciate the values that made him the leader that

was recognized by all. chief among these is the lesson that a life lived for others is a life well lived. >> reporter: in johannesburg mandela's square, they came to take pictures by his massive statue. >> it makes me proud to be a south african. >> reporter: signed condolence books and laid flowers. >> to us all, we love him. >> i brought them because i wanted them to begin to get an understanding of the impact of the human being that nelson mandela was. >> reporter: victims of apartheid brought their children, who grew up free of segregation. this man brought his 17-year-old daughter to a museum of his life and struggle. from his letters in neat and tiny handwriting smuggled out of prison to the highlight of the

nobel prize. there is this glass replica of mandela's cell. it takes three small steps to cross. for years, man tella didn't even have a bed in here, just a mat on the concrete floor. >> reporter: for all the celebrations, there's also anxiety here. nelson mandela, the nation's most famous son, is also for many its founding father. the question is, what will it be like without him. richard engel, nbc news, johannesburg. >> and we are covering all angles as people remember nelson mandela. nbc news' lester holt is in south africa. he will bring us a live report coming up at 8:00 this morning on "today." and jim vance will also report from south africa. watch for his reports all week long on news 4 as well as nbcwashington.com. back to that winter storm that keeps pushing closer to our

area, places out west are bracing for their second freeze. northern california has seen record lows. so low, four people have died from hypothermia. some parts of the area lost power a couple of days ago and it's still not back on. on the financial side of the storm, california's citrus crop was crushed with losses projected to be in the millions. lettuce and avocado crops are the next ones to be in danger. one indiana woman made the best of things, skating through the storm. literally. southern indiana was blanketed by ice, making for rink-like conditions. and without cars on the roads, this woman was able to lace up her skates and hit those icy streets. >> wow! well, we just spoke a few minutes ago with steve shannon with vdot. and he mentioned, my advice, stay home. a lot of people getting ready for church services. a lot of church services and sunday schools are canceling this morning. you might want to call ahead

before you do head o the door. >> not a bad plan. looking at the traffic cameras from vdot, 91 down toward mt. jackson now, already starting to see that white coating on both sides of the road. the snow is reaching the ground across much of i-81 right now. that is moving east of the mountains in the blue ridge over the next several hours and will make an impact in the d.c. metro area as we get into late morning and afternoon. as a result, weather advisories and warnings have been posted. winter weather advisories east of i-95. prince george's county, the district down into southern maryland. winter storm warnings now west of i-95 includes fairfax county, prince william county, loudoun, montgomery and frederick counties in maryland. all of the panhandle of west virginia. that's where the greatest accumulation for snow first and then potentially accumulating ice coming up late this morning into this afternoon. 32 in washington. winds out of the north averaging 12 miles per hour. north to northeast wind

continuing to funnel the cold, dry air down into place. temperatures marginally above freezing. that's why this is mainly going to be a sleet, freezing rain over to rain problem for you. mid 20s. much, much colder now in northern maryland. as a result, you'll stick with snow longest and potentially have more ice as well. we'll have snow at the start. that's the way things are shaping uptoday. morning snow, gradually changing over to sleet and freezing rain mix later this afternoon. travel could be tricky at times. bigger problems the further north and west you live or travel. here is my snow forecast map. slushiness, up to an inch, from d.c. into prince george's county. one to two inches on the ground. western fairfax and loudoun county and as much as two to four inches of snow before the iciness starts. of course, the monday morning commute. that's the one we're all watching out for. there could be icy travel pretty much from northwest washington up the 270 corridor and

interstate 66 from chantilly westbound on i-81. it will be a medium to high event impact for us. snow becoming likely as we get later on into today. don't forget also to download our storm team 4 weather app. shenandoah valley down toward paige and shenandoah counties at this time. little bit of snow and freezing rain potentially mixing in fredericksburg southbound. everybody will start out with the best chance of snow. the real trick comes in later on this afternoon. one computer model at the station says half an inch of snow in town. two to four inches of snow, well out to the north and west. your seven-day forecast, everybody. temperatures flirting with freezing all day long today. we may inch above the freezing mark but probably not until after the sun goes down. then tomorrow, starting off with temperatures right at or below the freezing mark. uld have icy spots to worry about tomorrow morning.

i-95, probably not going to be as much of a problem. secondary roads get you out of your neighborhood and to the big road is where the biggest problems are likely to be. the further north and west you live from washington, bigger impact for you. >> chuck, thank you so much. the weather has thousands of people questioning how to prepare for today's redskins game.

taking on the kansas city chiefs at fedex field a few hours from now. you cannot take umbrellas into fedex field. redskins have is it not won a game in more than a month. they were eliminated from a chance at a playoff run after a heartbreaking loss to the new york giants. george washington university will take on maryland inside.

it's been an impressive start for the gw basketball team. jason pugh talked with the coach. >> reporter: that's why at every home game you can find his wife, maggie, in the stands with their five children. >> they knew he was a coach. i don't think they realized what kind of level he was at until they get to the game and they see all the people and they see the excitement and they see daddy acting a little bit different on the sideline than how he acts at home. >> reporter: on game day, dad acts like a college coach. he isn't difficult to spot. his wife isn't hard to hear. >> maggie has one of those voices that even over the loud crowd i can always hear her. i do listen to what she says. she has good words of wisdom. >> reporter: when she left catholic university, she was the

winningest coach in the program's history. maggie sacrificed her coaching career to focus on the family. in the future, mike says he plans to return the favor. >> i like to see her get back in when our kids are a little older and maybe i could be mr. mom for a while. i do the laundry every night and i stay up until about 2:30 every night doing laundry. that's a big deal that she doesn't appreciate. >> he messes up my system. he has clothes all over the place but he does try to help. he took out the garbage once last week. >> she's not telling the truth. i used to mow the lawn but she said my lines were crooked. >> oh, my gosh, he would miss spots. >> time is money, i tell her. i would rather spend that time with my children. >> reporter: for now, he'll just stick what he's good at. jason pugh, news 4. >> using the kids, it's always good to use the kids.

>> one way to get out of mowing the lawn. >> a strong relationship is one where you fight over the insignificant things. you missed a spot on the lawn. that's not a bad marriage. that's a correct marriage right there. >> that's right. >> good for them. now for us today, all eyes on the ability to accumulate some snow this morning. snowfall forecast for today may be as much as two to four inches in the shenandoah valley, panhandle of west virginia. maybe as much as one to two inches from northwest washington into fairfax, montgomery and loudoun counties. the real problem comes in after the snow. we mix it in to sleet and freezing rain this afternoon and this evening. tonight could be an ugly go. biggest roads won't be the problem but the secondary roads and side streets. it's not going to get warm any time soon. any snow we get today will be gone by tomorrow. >> sounds good.

good morning. i'm pat lawson muse. he is the former director of the howard university cancer center. he is the current interim president of howard, one of the nation's most prestigious historically black institutions of higher learning. how are guest is dr. wayne a.i. frederick. you served as interim president for two months. so far, how is the job going? >> great so far. very humbling. a lot of support from the

community, faculty, students. it's been very good so far. >> what's been your primary role or focus, i should say, since you stepped into the interim president's role? >> my focus has been to make sure we deal with our challenges and issues of today. but with a viewpoint to really set us up to meet the needs three, five, ten years down the road regardless of who is at the helm of the university. i've been focused on our core business, graduation rates, retention rates and operation efficiencies, how we support education. >> i want to get to that in a moment. you have a long, deeply personal relationship with howard that dates back 25 years, when you were just 16. tell us the story of what brought you to howard university. >> at the age of 16, i was probably 80 pounds. i suffered from sickle cell

anemia. i came to howard university because howard had a sickle cell center. my mom, a nurse, thought it would be a safe place healthwise. the second reason is because i wanted to pursue becoming a physician. i looked across the spectrum of universities that would give me that opportunity, howard had the best fit. my former prime minister, founder, father of our nation, as it were, who brought us into independence was a political professor at howard university. it has a strong name in the caribbean and was a strong connection for me. >> you come from trinidad and tobego. >> that is correct. >> you are a surgical oncologist by training. are you still practicing? >> on a limited basis. my operating room, my classroom as it were, day-to-day activities of administration plus my skill set that i acquired as a surgeon is important to continue to use and

share with the community and students. >> what was your reaction when you were approached and asked to take over the role as interim president? >> it was very, very humbling. i actually was in a room by myself when i was first, you know, told about it. and i had a moment. i had a moment that reflected, you know, across the 25 years of my engagement with the university. and as i looked at it and i looked at all of the things that howard brought into me, the technical aspect of my education but more importantly, the service component of giving back to my community and changing the world around me, i was extremely humbled to be even proched about it. >> did you see taking the job as sort of a responsibility on your part? >> absolutely. i see it as a sacred responsibility. howard, to me, is a global treasure, national research university that certainly fills that role in terms of providing an education. more importantly, it has reached

well beyond the shores of the united states and has impacted a lot of the -- in a way that's left an indelible mark. the legacy of howard certainly makes it a great responsibility but ensuring the relevance howard as you go forward, i think, is a sacred responsibility. >> you certainly took over at an interesting time and a rather tough time, dr. frederick, in light of your intimate ties with howard, what's it been like to watch the university go through these very tough and public challenges? >> as an alum, it has been difficult to watch. my surgical training mentor has me live by some words, equity under duress. that's what we have to come together and do. the second approach of looking at the tough new cycle we've been in, there's also first to recognize that we need to come together. this is not -- it will not be

solved by any one person. buts a community when i look at the resources we have in terms of talent, et cetera, i really believe that if we come together, we can certainly chart a very strong course. >> at any university, the board of trustees makes important decisions and provides important guidance. we saw you go through a tough transition with the president there and problems on the board. howard's board reportedly is going through a tough time, too. what do you think the board needs now or needs to do now? >> over the past few months, the board has been doing what it needs to do. first, introspection. we have to stop and really look within and make sure we're covering all the bases. i am very confident that the board, not just in terms of personnel, but in terms of the

together mes, in terms of division and direction is in the right position to take the university where it needs to go. >> dr. wayne a.i. frederick is our guest here on ♪ pose! yeah! ♪ flash! yeah! ♪ pose! yeah! ♪ flash! yeah! ♪ get the family to strike a pose, ♪ ♪ and show off your brand new clothes! ♪ ♪ that's my kind of holiday.

welcome back. we were talking this morning with dr. wayne a.i. frederick. we've talked about how you've taken the helm at a very difficult time. the board has issues to work through. the university has had budget issues. declining federal dollars, fund-raising shortfalls and some critics say overstaffing. how are you approaching those issues and do you have any plans -- are there any plans in the work for budget cutbacks or staff reductions? >> we are approaching it from a holistic point of view. i am looking broadly throughout the university of where we have operational inefficiencies. we are trying to use technology

to maximize our efficiencies and increase the amount of contact, thing that is need to be done from person to person and really maximize our use of technology. as we do that, we can trees our expense base. the biggest part of our expense base does remain our staffing. we have to critically look at that. when people talk about our staffing, they also fail to realize we have a hospital as well that's connected to that staffing and how you staff the hospital, obviously, regardless of census, can be a complicated manner. we are looking at it holistically, trying to change the dynamic around that. as you pointed out, federal appropriation is a big part of our revenue stream. we have to diversify that. >> what would you like to see done with the hospital? some say you should just sell it or hold the district government's feet to the fire and force the city to adequately reimburse you for the services you provide to d.c. residents. >> that's correct. there are two things we have to do, regardless of what the

business construct is. two things we have to do is maek sure we continue to serve the community that we serve as part of our mission and we feel very dear about that. the hospital has been there 151 years. we have to preserve it for another 151 years. the second thing is the hospital is a very important site for training for students and residents who are going into the profession of medicine and dentistry. it's a very critical aspect of what howard provides. so, regardless of what the business construct is, we have to come up with a business construct that would preserve those two. in my opinion, any business construct that we get to that will fulfill those two priorities will be the right approach. and we're actively looking at those options right now. >> in the past two years, moody's investment services downgraded the the rating of several elite schools, howard included. hbcu has been particularly hard hit by the lack of resources. what are you doing? what's the strategy for turning that around?

>> right. higher education, in general, was downgraded, because it's a difficult business when you look at the tuition, revenue. it's a difficult thing to expand. especially when we have students coming in to howard, giving them a great opportunity, academically, they're very, very gifted but maybe financially challenged. what we're doing overall is to make sure we maximize our revenues, diversify. we have real estate holdings that i believe we can monetize appropriately. bring to market and we is to expand our fund-raising, that helps to diversify the revenue. with the other respect moody's may have highlighted with respect to our expense base, we are certainly looking at restructuring to make sure we answer that call as well. >> why did howard fall in the news and world report rankings and what's the strategy for turning that around? >> these rankings are based on

hard criteria. we've looked extensively at the criteria. the criteria that was published in the last report was not updated and we certainly are looking forward prospectively in making sure that those are updated appropriately. the other aspects of the report that we feel we will become competitive in include things like graduation rates where we graduate african-americans at twice the rate at african-americans in all of higher education and we have to maximize our positives. we will be taking measures that will maximize it. ultimately, though, a howard degree, i believe, also comes with some intangibles and our service aspect of what we do at the university and what our students get when they go out and change the world is one we're going to need to maximize. you will not see that in every report but i assure every parent in america who sends their child to howard will leave with not just a degree to hang on their wall but that they will go out and change the world around

good sunday morning, everybody. i'm meteorologist chuck bell. arlington county into southern maryland. winter storm warnings along and to the west of i-95, frederick, montgomery, maryland, up to shenandoah valley all under the winter storm warning and snow is now starting to reach the ground south of the winchester area. temperatures mid 20s now in morn maryland in the shenandoah valley, right around freezing in town. storm team 4 radar. this snow is reaching the ground along parts of interstate 81, front royal, route 522. be on the lookout, snowflakes inbound for you. light snow and freezing rain to the south of fredericksburg. all this moisture coming in our direction for today. that's the reason for the advisories. temperatures will get close to the freezing mark today. but snow in the morning and

freezing rain this afternoon. complete forecast is a few minutes away. >> welcome back. we're talking this morning with howard university's interim president, dr. wayne a.i. frederick. you've got good news happening this year. you've seen enrollment rebound and second largest freshman class enrolled in 15 years. how did you do that? >> with a lot of hard work. we really analyzed where the students were coming from. backdrop of 2% decline across higher education, we had a 3% increase in enrollment. really a 5% swing. where the students come from, how were they prepared in those markets and we also looked at markets where we thought we should have more students coming, but we weren't seeing that volume. we really had a strong outreach. we also had a lot of engagement once students were accepted. we divided up our orientation cycle. there was a will the more student engagement.

that has resulted and we've seen it go into this year as well. we are well ahead in terms of this moment. we think that will happen at a record year. >> at howard and other historically black colleges and universities, what's the key to stemming the loss of students to other top schools that are really aggressively, actively going after them? >> sure. we have to maximize the value proposition. regardless of how it came about, whether it was through the land grab, we have to maximize what the for today's student and compete on that same playing level that those students are competing on. we have to improve our facilities. we have to change the classroom instructional involvement so it is more contemporary. most importantly, i think, we have to have students recognize once they graduate with that degree that we will get them cah

will bring them the type of fulfillment they need. >> state and community colleges, they're a lot cheaper. >> i agree. if you look at some of the current data in terms of job placement, the job placement isn't as great at some of those institutions. fine institutions -- no knock against those institutions, but we also have to maximize -- so what we should be doing is partnering more with those community colleges. some of those students are going because of affordability. they are highly talented as well. so we are also looking at opportunities where we can bring some of those community college students, after they get their associate's degree and give them opportunities. not just for bs degrees but to go on to med school, law school, phd programs, because we think that that talent pool is great. and so our transfer population from the community colleges is actually up as well, as part of our ongoing strat strategy. >> what's your advice to high school students or to parents

who see their dream of going to college slipping away because they don't have the money and they don't want to make the loans? >> right. you know, i think you have to -- it has to be very, very strong planning. we have a financial literacy workshop where we're putting our applicants through, our prospective stuns through. it's an invaluable tool. most parents look at how do i get my son and daughter through this year. we want people to look at what is your four-year plan? we can help them, in the system, find a way to do it so there's long-term planning. the resources are marginal, no doubt about that. we will give institutionally of about $90 million this year versus $58 million three years ago. so clearly the resources are tight and coming from the parents. but we think the other sources that they can tap into local scholarships, the community

tends to support church scholarships, et cetera. we have to get that information to the students and parents, so they're applying for more of these grants and scholarships as well. >> howard has signed an agreement with pearson to develop your online academic program. tell us about that. >> it's coming along. it's quite a task. because we want to bring our instructional environment to meet the needs of the students that we're seeing today. these students are coming out of high school and have all used five, six different types of devices, cell phone, ipad. so we have to create an instruction and environment. one aspect is to bring online degrees. the other aspect is to improve that environment, flipped classrooms where you spend more time having a discussion in the classroom about the material and some of the intake of the material can occur online. those are some of the things we see as advantages from the deal

that we have signed as we try to improve that instruction. we think that, again, will help us with retention and graduation rates of our students. >> what's the timeline? is there one for fully ramping up the online offerings? >> we're hoping over the next 24 to 48 months of ramping up. we have online degrees right now in about four programs to be more specific. we would like to expand that, obviously, as well as we would like to expand online offerings within our in-house programs as well, which would also offer students an opportunity to gain their credits at a lot quicker rate.

welcome back. we're talking this morning to dr. wayne a.i. frederick, the interim president at howard university. you got good news regarding your

endowment, which i read was back to prerecession levels but it's better than that, i hear. >> that's right. 2008 our endowment went down to $380 million after high in the 500s and currently it's about $548 million. it certainly is -- the markets obviously have been performing better and our endowment has grown significantly. >> you've taken personal steps to better engage your alumni population. what are you doing to get your former students back in the game? >> absolutely. ultimately, we want our alumni to give but i want them to give because they're totally engaged. we're doing a lot of alumni engagement. a lot of that is face to face. i'm meeting with groups as often as i can. i'll be in north carolina next week and baltimore later and then i'll do a west coast swing in the spring. i'm also sending out information monthly. i started a president's

newsletter going out monthly, november edition went out. we'll be doing that on a monthly basis where we will update our alum and our community in general, our partners as to what's going on in the university, what are the things they should be excited about and, as well, our challenges and how we're meeting them. that's a triumphant story as well. >> you've got a lot of other happenings and improvements taking place around the campus. tell us about the simulation center, which is opening in january. >> sure. the simulation center is part of our health sciences complex where you look at where medicine is going. we are trying to really force all of the education around medicine to be patient centric and make everyone realize you need a team approach. that also involves looking at using technology, to teach people how to do things. the way i was trained where i had to do one and then observe one, do one and teach one. we now have simulation for

everything. unbelievable in terms of the technology. whoa have a mannequin who will deliver baby, et cetera. so it's extremely high tech. and that summation center, in my opinion, would be best in the midatlantic area when we open it in january. >> that sounds fascinating. >> absolutely. >> a mannequin delivering a baby? >> that's absolutely right. >> physical plant, new dorms, new buildings going up. >> that's right. two new residence halls are going up. atmosphere on the campus and keep as many of our students on the campus. it helps with student life. that's going on. i think again it will be a state of the art and also help us to attract the type of researchers we need to expand and put more into our enterprise. >> top producer of african-american graduates who later earn science and

engineering doctoral degrees. >> absolutely. >> talk about that. >> when you look at science, technology, engineering and math and you look at the future that's where a lot of job market is moving. it is estimated anyone entering those fields will earn 10% to 25% more than people entering other fields. so, again, when you look at the students coming in, we feel we have to be strong in that area. as we look at that, we already have a history, as you pointed out, national science foundation has recognized us for our history in terms of producing graduates who go on to those fields. we think we can do even more. as i was speaking earlier about our community college, students were transferring in. i really feel we can offer them an opportunity to go into those fields as well and really expand the pool. >> you're starting them very early. i know the middle school is doing very, very well. >> that's absolutely right. >> science and technology. >> our middle school is focused on math and science. when you look where those

students are performing, coming in, they are now closing the gap on their white counterparts in terms of testing. we're very, very proud of what that school is doing, because everyone who hears about our middle school thinks that the kids have to be academically gifted. that's not the case. we take kids -- some of the kids are actually a grade or two behind in their reading and math when they enter. they're all leaving at a very, very accomplished level. >> you've been interim president, dr. frederick, for two months. do you want to keep the job? >> i'll be humbled and honored if i am called to do anything for howard university, i have to say. as the process unfolds, i'll certainly consult, as i always do, with my wife and family. we'll make a collective decision. i have very opinionated kids, 9 and 7. they're very clear about what they want me to do. >> future howard students, no doubt. >> yes. >> dr. wayne a.i. frederick, thank you. >> thank you for having me. appreciate it.

news 4 today continues. live look outside right now. sun is starting to come up. we have wind, cold and soon it will be freezing rain, sleet and snow. that winter storm is the big story this morning. hi, everyone. good morning. i'm richard jordan. >> and i'm angie goff. computer models are lining right up with the forecast our team has been tracking about a week now. >> let's get right over to storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell for the latest. chuck? >> good morning, richard and angie. good morning, everybody. i-95 pretty much will be the dividing line between low impact and possibly high impacts from this storm. outside for now, winter weather advisories are posted east of i-95, including arlington, the district, prince george's county, southern maryland, but out west of i-95, where there's more cold air and where it will

last the longest as a result could have a little bit more snow and prolonged stretch of freezing rain coming our way later today. temperatures freezing or just barely above into southern maryland. it's where temperatures are in the mid 20s this morning in the shenandoah valley. storm team 4 radar, snow reaching the ground across much of interstate 81, down towards mt. jackson. white on both sides of the road. a possibility of snowflakes here in and around the fredericksburg area. cold air is wedged in place. planner? cloudy and cold for now. snow arriving in the metro this morning. mix of snow and rain in the afternoon. opportunity for real icy travel. iciness could be a real issue on parts of 270, 81 and parts of 66. >> right now, road crews are getting ready for this winter storm in virginia. vdot says they have dozens of weather sensors and cameras

activated to help crews quickly identify any trouble spots and 800 trucks staged in loudoun and prince george's counties. >> in maryland, crews pretreated roads like interstate 270, the beltway and route 29. they've been doing this the last 24 hours now. crews are getting ready to deploy more than 200 plows as soon as the storm hits. they just tweeted out they plan to do that in the next half hour. people across the region are stocking up on supplies to prepare for the storm. a pretty steady flow of traffic in walmart in northwest d.c. shoppers picked up enough food and water to last a couple of days. >> well, i've been living here all my life. i don't have any issues with being snowed in. i have plenty of video games, books, movies. tons of food. my cat will be fine. so, we should be good. >> and those supplies should actually come in pretty handy. transportation leaders are encouraging people to stay home

and avoid any dangerous conditions. >> despite the threat of the winter storm today, the show must go on for the 36th annual kennedy center honors. we checked with the kennedy center this morning and they said right now they expect tonight's events to go on as scheduled. prior to the big event, honorees will be hosted by president obama at the white house. shirley mcclan, billy joel, carlos santana, herbie hancock. out of northwest, d.c. police are investigating a fatal shooting a few blocks from military road. they arrived at the scene on 9th and sheridan at 9:00 last night and immediately found a man lying dead on the ground. officials have not released the identity of the man or any leads on the suspect. >> a little more than an hour ago, several roads intersecting with as pen road in rockville

are closed due to an accident overnight. officers closed off the area at 1:00 this morning when they received a call of a single car accident. the roadways are expected to reopen soon. two people are dead and six others are in the hospital after a serious accident in prince george's county. two children are among those hurt. the accident happened at central avenue and shady glen drive 11:00 last night. police officers had to cut some of the victims out of the vehicle. at last check, one of the children is in serious condition. the other is listed in critical condition. this morning, police are trying to sort out a police shooting that ended with an officer and a gunman both injured in prince george's county. we brought you this breaking news last night at 11:00. police say they responded to a robbery on silver hill road in district heights. officers followed the suspect's car to an apartment complex on parkland court. and that's where there was a shootout. the officer was hit but his

bulletproof vest protected him. no word on the condition of the gunman. detectives questioned a second man involved and are now looking for a third. >> right now, people in south africa are remembering their former president, nelson mandela. these are live pekts of tpictur crowds as people mark his death with a national day of prayer and reflection. places of worship around the country are celebrating his life. 94-year-old died thursday. he will be buried one week from today. south african anniversary, at the cathedral. in front of the embassy along massachusetts avenue. a condolence book is available for people to sign until tuesday. nightly vigils are being hosted at 7:00 pm. that is also until tuesday. four of the five living u.s.

presidents will head to south africa this week. former president jimmy carter says he will head to south africa this week. it comes after president obama, bill clinton and george w. bush said they would pay their respects. george h.w. bush is unable to attend because of health concerns. jim vance is also heading to south africa. watch for his reports throughout the week as people around the world say good-bye to nelson mandela. snow falling outside the d.c. area. who is getting a taste of what to come. that's straight ahead. who to call if the power goes out? we have helpful numbers you may want to put in your cell phone this morning. don't forget to charge it, too. >> our web team is running on all cylinders this morning. >> oh, yeah. >> check out our facebook and twitter feeds for any alerts, breaking

right now it's 7:36. we are tracking a winter storm this morning. storm team 4 radar telling the story. plenty of wintry weather headed directly our way. said to bring snow and freezing rain to the area before it's all said and done. and we're keeping a close eye on places west of us. this is a live camera along interstate 81 near toms brook in shenandoah county. some of the snow is already starting to stick on the ground there. a little bit of a dusting. chuck bell is coming back with a look at what we're seeing and when we're going to start seeing more snow flakes around these parts. >> power companies are ready and preparing for the storm. dom inion virginia says they're ready to respond to outage outa. to report an outage call

866-366-4357. pepco reminds customers to charge their cell phones. the number to call for them is 877-737-2662. this information is posted on nbcwashington.com. this morning, crews in many parts of the country are busy restoring power knocked out by the storm headed our way. more than 200,000 outages are reported in texas, oklahoma, arkansas, indiana and missouri. utility trucks from houston are heading to dallas to help get the lights back on there. utility companies say it will take about a week to repair the damage. >> today's winter weather could make for a very interesting redskins game. burgundy and gold set to take on the kansas city chiefs athe fedex field a few hours from now. if you plan on braving the cold for a tailgate, just remember, you cannot take your umbrella into fedex field. by the way, the redskins have not won a game in more than a month. i don't think we want to be reminded of that. last week, they were eliminated

from the chance of a playoff run after a heartbreaking loss to the new york giants. >> and many people with tickets to the game are up early this morning, waiting to hear what chuck bell has to say about what they can expect when they get out there. >> what's up, chuck? >> plan on being cold and wet. whether you're going to the redskins or the ravens game today. the real issue is when can we switch the snow and the ice back over to plain old rain? i'll let you know what to expect and when, coming up. for all those who sleep too hot or too cool, and struggle to sleep comfortably together, now there's a solution. the company that individualized your comfort with the sleep number bed brings you sleep number dual temp, the revolutionary temperature-balancing layer with active air technology

that works on any mattress brand, including yours. whether you sleep hot or cool, sleep number dual temp allows each of you to select your ideal temperature. so you can both sleep exactly the way you like, at your own perfect temperature. and there's only one place in the world you'll find it: a sleep number store, where this holiday season, the hottest sleep innovations make the coolest gifts, including sleep number dual temp. discover dual temp at one of our 425 sleep number stores nationwide. sleep number. comfort individualized. visit sleepnumber.com to find a sleep number store near you.

a warning to pet owners in northern virginia, a diseased raccoon was loose in the area as late as last week. it's highly contagious and can be deadly for dogs. make sure your dogs are vaccinated. vomiting, loss of appetite or thick mucus coming from their eyes and nose. several residents living along new york woke up to busted windows. ten street parked cars looking like this, having one or both of their passenger side windows broken. several owners reported items were stolen from their vehicles. victims are surprised this happened because a police station is located across the street and because they were unaware of anything like this happening in their neighborhood

before. >> nobody has ever seen anything like that happen over in this area. >> as soon as i came outside i saw two or three other spots with glass broken and that's when i realized it's going to be my car, too. >> most of the residents news 4 spoke with said they are planning to pay extra for rush service because all of the incoming winter stormy weather. this was the scene at the u.p.s. building in prince george's county yesterday morning, the fire torched $25,000 worth of packages. nobody was hurt in all of this. u.p.s. has not said how it will compensate customers whose packages were destroyed. think your holiday decorations are safe? get this. 250 people a day end up in the hospital because of decorating injuries. so before you pull out that box from the basement or the attic, there's a warning that you should pay attention to. ♪ i don't want a lot for

christmas ♪ >> the holiday season is a time to make a wish and hope it comes true. if you're not careful, you could face your worst nightmare. take a look at the clock. in four seconds, a live tree can go up in flames. the consumer product safety commission set up the experiment. the point is to make sure the festive fir is properly hydrated. >> it's important you purchase a fresh tree when purchasing a live tree. dry evergreens can burn faster than newspaper, becoming completely engulfed in a matter of seconds. >> is just because it's fake doesn't mean it's safe. artificial trees should be fire resistant. >> three, two, one! >> the lights on the tree can also pose a risk. be sure to avoid strands where some lights work and others don't. the experts suggest checking for broken sockets or damaged cords. there's a difference between indoor and outdoor lights. a red ul label means it's safe

to be used outside. but watch out when you are hanging those lights. >> last year the most common incidents involved falls, lacerations and back sprains. so if consumers are planning to string lights from the porch rail up to the roof, we want to make sure they're using the right ladder for the job. >> candles are another holiday hazard. make sure to keep candles away from curtains, furniture, decorations and trees. and one final tip, watch out for any broken ornament that is may be in that holiday box. those could be sharp and painful if you're not paying attention. >> watch for them on the ground especially if you have pets, too. >> you don't want them to eat that up. another thing. when we talk pt winter weather, we want to talk about the treacherous roads we'll see as a result of all the snow, sleet and ice. we want to check in right now with the maryland state highway administration. laura, are you there? >> yes, hi. good morning. >> good morning.

i know that you have been very busy overnight and into this morning. tell us what your crews have been doing. >> absolutely. in fact, crews were out as of yesterday morning, yesterday afternoon, pretreating. spraying a wet solution on the roads, that's sulfuride. conditions have to be just right for us to do this. the storm needs to come in as a winter type precipitation, not rain. otherwise, it washes off the roadway. conditions were right and that's important. that will give us a leg up in this storm. >> we know your crews will hit all the major highways. what about the side streets? anything going on there? should people take some caution as they move on those streets? >> sure. always caution, no matter what road you happen to be on. maryland state highway administration maintains numbered routes in maryland. if you happen to live along a numbered route, that is a state route. rest assured, crews are in.

they're already staffed. ample resources, sulfuride and crews will be out. if you're seeing an indication of wet pavement you have to assume it's ice in these types of situations. ramps, bridges, overpasses particularly freeze first. be on alert and on guard if you do decide to drive today. >> for those that do decide to drive, a lot of your crews will be out there in big numbers. things to watch out for. >> this will be the first snow really of the season. a lot of new drivers out there. we all need to review winter driving 101. above all, you need to know before you go. do that by visiting maryland 911.org or by calling 511. you have to have a game plan. we have two games in maryland on each beltway, capital beltway and baltimore beltway. consider transit today. if you do travel make sure that

you have a winter survival kit in your vehicle. have your cell phone charged and ready. and, again, just be on your most alert. we've had a veteran traffic engineer who used to compare driving skills to having good days and bad days like anything else. you need to be on your ps and qs, eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel. >> bring your a game if you plan on hitting the road. thank you very much. >> checking in with all the municipalities throughout the morning, see what they're doing. let's get a check of the forecast now. >> chuck? >> here is where the advisories are posted now. winter storm warnings out to the west of i-95. in the warning area, montgomery county, frederick county, washington county in maryland, all of the eastern panhandle of west virginia and all of northern virginia with the lone exceptions of stafford county where you're under the winter weather advisory. as of now, it's full cloud cover, nothing coming from the sky just yet.

32 degrees. we're at the freezing mark. winds north at 12. lot colder air wedged in. north and west of town into the shenandoah valley. mid 20s in northern montgomery county, out towards winchester. that will start and stay snow for the longest. in fact, the dividing line will be about route 50 where north of route 50 into northern maryland, quite a bit in the way of accumulating snow. our weather impact scale, snow becoming sleet as we get into the later parts of the afternoon. medium to medium high impact today. tonight, freezing rain from the metro north and west to sleet in and around town and rain into southern maryland. of course, that lingers into monday morning. medium to high impact there. any opportunity for iciness on a monday morning commute means a high impact potential for tomorrow. plan on leaving extra, extra early tomorrow morning. stay ahead of the weather by following us on facebook, twitter and, of course, through our storm team 4 weather app. google play store or itunes store.

here is the radar. not much in the metro. but snow now moving into southern maryland and snow toward much of the shenandoah valley. zoom in here, i-81. white side of things now and there's still black pavement. that's good news. fredericksburg, little whiteness on the grassy places. our local computer model at the tv station estimating about half an inch to an inch in and around town, more accumulating snow out to the north. that could also be a bit of a factor. european model more aggressive on the snow. here is the way i think it will break down. one inch to slushiness southern prince george's county, southern maryland. one to two inches of snow here, two to four in maryland. how much freezing rain or sleet do we get? this area of pink in here is the opportunity for freezing rain mid to late afternoon and then into the early parts of the overnight as well. freeze rain and sleet could

continue across northern maryland. that will be the bullseye. northern end of 270 out towards hagerstown where the biggest problems are likely to be for you folks out toward winchester. keep all this in mind. seven-day forecast, freezing rain later this afternoon, mixing in as sleet and snow. travel getting more and more dangerous after about lunchtime today. be really careful about that. lot of small business owners don't want us to tell you that travel is discouraged. really, if you don't have to be on the roads today or tomorrow as well -- if it's voluntary travel, volunteer not to make it to be on the safe side here. there's always time to go out and do your holiday shopping next weekend. >> if you have your ornaments, go out and make -- >> out in largo.

check for the next community shred next year. 6-year-old denver boy launched a mission to save nasa. connor johnson said all he ever wanted to do was explore space. he knows it's in his future. with the help of his parents about a week ago he launch aid petition to the federal government to increase funding to nasa. he needs 100,000 signatures to get a response from the white house. he has a long way to go but is very hopeful. >> i would be very sad. nasa is mostly the only station, like space company i've known for a very long time. >> connor is about 99,000 signatures short and he only has until the 29th of this month. if you want to sign, head on over to whitehouse.gov and look under the petitions for science and space policy. >> you never know. never too young to make change, right? >> that's true. will you get snow, sleet or just rain? we're monitoring conditions across the d.c. region right

now. another check on your forecast is next. use chase freedom at select department stores

and get 5% cash back this quarter. so you can give her an even bigger surprise. activate your 5% cash back at chase.com/freedom chase. so you can.

looking at some of the stories we're following in the week ahead, tomorrow, a bipartisan effort to relocate the fbi to springfield, virginia. governor elect terry mcauliffe and tim kaine are a few of a dozen lawmakers getting ready

for a press conference in which they'll announce their support for the fbi to move to fairfax county tlnchts wi county. there will not be a public memorial. the leader of the town board is asking community to -- quiet, personal and respectful. capitol hill, a new budget battle is about to begin. members of congress set a deadline for this friday, the 13th, to come up with a budget deal. remember when the government shut down, it ended in october. it was only funded to stay open through january 15th. >> as the winter weather inches closer, we are gearing up. veronica johnson will be joining chuck. >> getting on social media. that's one of the best ways to stay ahead of the weather, by following through our social media outlets. storm team 4 facebook page and

all of us on twitter. snowfall forecast for today, one to two inches of white stuff in and around town. as much as two to four inches in northern maryland. the real problem will be how much sleet or freezing rain we can mix in with the snow, starting later on this afternoon. so, the danger zone timeframe will be from about lunchtime today to about sunrise tomorrow morning. we should be able to change everything back over to rain tomorrow afternoon. cold rain at that. and just a little heads up. tuesday now, maybe more than a parting blast from this little snow storm as a little rain/snow mix on the offing for tuesday. doesn't look like a big deal but we'll be winter weary by then. >> we want to remind everybody to download our winter storm app. you're updating that constantly. we'll be back in another 25 ♪

[ male announcer ] we all deserve a good night's sleep. thankfully, there's zzzquil. it's not for colds, it's not for pain, it's just for sleep. ♪ because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil. the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil®.

good morning. menacing and hazardous. winter weather alerts in a whopping 31 states this morning. some of the country's biggest cities, washington, new york, boston, bracing for sleet, freezing rain and snow. prayer, reflection and celebration. ♪ >> a week of memorial events under way in south africa this morning to say good-bye to nelson mandela as president obama prepares to lead the u.s. delegation there. lester is live in soweto, south africa with the latest.